The blade seems to be stuck on my PI241. The PI241 blade screws off clockwise like other Emersons, doesn’t it?
I didn’t try *too* hard turn it, which brings me to my next question. If I tried harder would I be putting the cast iron blade hub at risk? I would be heartbroken if it broke.

I'd say there is too much risk that a hub wing might snap off. I once won on ebay an Emerson 6 wing 19666 and the seller, when trying to remove the blade for shipping, snapped off a hub finger. Try getting a helper to grab two wings while you put a pair of channel locks or similar around the hub behind the fingers. First, though, find a way to protect the hub from marring from the jaws of the channel locks. Leather, thick rubber or ?? Put a decently heavy but not too heavy torque on the blade and hold it for a half minute or so. It would be a good idea to dribble some penetrant down the outside of the hub so it reaches the leather washer behind the hub. Let it sit overnight. 6-8 drops should be enough.

Here is a catalog cut from 1903 showing the leather sealing washer that I bet was also used on the 1901-02 PI-241 but I don't remember if mine has the washer. 1903 would include the 910 and 1010 and some other models made the year after the PI-241.

Jeff Whitfield wrote: You guys are assuming there's a washer between the blade and hub. Paul loosened a stuck PI-241 blade with no washer. It was screwed down on the rotor.
I recently got into a 21666 with no washer and the blade was fused to the rotor. Used the 2 bolts through the gearbox to press out the main bearing and whole assembly. Once I had the rotor locked in the vise the blade let loose. You never know what you will find on some of these old fans

Soak the joint between the hub and rotor with a GOOD penetrating oil, then let it sit for a day or 2. That’ll soften the washer. If you think of it, dribble more penetrant on it during that time period. Use a good oil, like Kroil, or PBlaster

Then use a heat gun to heat the hub heat it evenly all around, focusing the gun to the end of the hub where the threads are.

Then use the slow, steady pressure on 2 wings near the hub to loosen it. If it doesn’t go, then repeat the process. Often they don’t just break free, they usually move very slowly at first then break free gradually.

Thanks Lane!
Really appreciate all of the suggestions guys! I’m usually pretty confident diving into a fan, but this is a special fan, so I wanted to hear from you experts before I tried anything I wasn’t 100% sure of.

I’ll try penetrant and heat first, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll look at my other options.
Chris, so if you remove the screw at the back of the fan, that would allow me to remove the shaft, rotor, front housing and blade as one unit?

Zackri Higgins wrote: I’ll try penetrant and heat first, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll look at my other options.
Chris, so if you remove the screw at the back of the fan, that would allow me to remove the shaft, rotor, front housing and blade as one unit?

If you remove rear screw and see the end of a threaded rod then you will be able to pull out the blade, front motor cover, and stator.

If no threaded rod to retain stator then the stator is retained to the shaft by the front screw attached to rod which locks assembly to shaft and this is situation I was in. First try methods mentioned above but the heat, penetrant did not work. Leverage with pipe wrench broke 2 of my screwdrivers and one of Pauls.

Paul is a genius and figured out by usuing a long flat head screwdriver and tapping into the front threaded nut from the rear through shaft he could unscrew from the backside...turn clockwise.

That removed the entire front assembly of the blade, motor cover, and rotor which was placed into a vice. Paul and believe Nick Loos together were able to break free while Daniel O’Toole held the base of vice.

My PI241 rotor was missing the leather washer as Jeff mentioned. The rotor has a recessed slot for the leather washer. I would assume if you have leather washer in place the heat and penetrant may be enough to work.

Lack of leather washer allowed the hub to bite down hard into the slot and unfortunatly heat and penetrant were not enough.

Good news! I *think* I may have the washer. I got a pic of it (wasn’t able to get it to focus on it, but hopefully you can see what I’m talking about). Also when I tap on that with a little metal stick, it doesn’t sound like metal. I outlined what I think is the washer down in there.

Definitely has the leather washer. I’ve got some PB soaking in it and it’s starting to feel soft. Gonna let it soak in for a few days. What’s the best orientation to leave the fan in while it’s soaking? I’ve currently got it tilted up (front of the fan facing the ceiling). That’s the only way I could think of to let it sit without the risk of the oil getting on the windings.

Also, does anyone have a wiring diagram to the PI-241? Mine is definitely not wired properly. One of the contacts on the switch doesn’t even have a wire connected to it. Makes me even more glad that I haven’t plugged this fan in yet.

Zackri Higgins wrote: Definitely has the leather washer. I’ve got some PB soaking in it and it’s starting to feel soft. Gonna let it soak in for a few days. What’s the best orientation to leave the fan in while it’s soaking? I’ve currently got it tilted up (front of the fan facing the ceiling). That’s the only way I could think of to let it sit without the risk of the oil getting on the windings.

Zackri Higgins wrote: Definitely has the leather washer. I’ve got some PB soaking in it and it’s starting to feel soft. Gonna let it soak in for a few days. What’s the best orientation to leave the fan in while it’s soaking? I’ve currently got it tilted up (front of the fan facing the ceiling). That’s the only way I could think of to let it sit without the risk of the oil getting on the windings.

I would think normal level operating position would be the best choice. If the washer is doing its job it will be tough for the PB to get to the threads. The PB will want to run to the bottom but surface tension will hold a little in the crack. Every few hours or whatever, spray, turn a little, spray, for at least one revolution and stopping at different positions. If you can get some "Kroil" that would even be better. It really does creep!

Chris and Henry, thanks for the suggestions. I’ll try all of these things.
The leather washer probably isn’t working quite as well as it used to being that it’s probably degraded some (I would think anyway).

You really just want to soften that washer so it tears, or slides when you try to twist off the blade.
I doubt much penetrating oil will make it back into the threads. That’s what the heat is for. It will soften the hardened oil residue that is likely binding your threads. You gotta heat it with the heat gun until you can hear the oil sizzling a little or you see it oozing. Just be careful to not catch all that Kroil on fire.

Just adding this to the good advice you’ve received already from Henry, Chris and others.

I GOT IT!!!!!! I’m so happy. I put some more PB on there and got it nice and hot, then I put the channel locks around the hub (whith a piece of material to protect the hub from getting scratched), gave it a nice hard push and it broke loose!

I think the stator might be alright, as it does give ohm readings. I’m definitely going to varnish it though, as the insulation on the coils seems very fragile. Also got the switch cleaned up and the lever moves very freely now.

One very interesting thing I found during disassembly is that there was a piece of brass wire shoved in between the stator and motor housing (see pic below where I outlined it), presumably to make it a tight fit, as the casting may have been a little off. It appears to be the exact same type of wire that the rear ring of the cage is made out of. I don’t know why, but I just found this to be really cool and fascinating.

Zackri Higgins wrote: I think the stator might be alright, as it does give ohm readings. I’m definitely going to varnish it though, as the insulation on the coils seems very fragile. Also got the switch cleaned up and the lever moves very freely now.

One very interesting thing I found during disassembly is that there was a piece of brass wire shoved in between the stator and motor housing (see pic below where I outlined it), presumably to make it a tight fit, as the casting may have been a little off. It appears to be the exact same type of wire that the rear ring of the cage is made out of. I don’t know why, but I just found this to be really cool and fascinating. That brass piece is a shim that the Emerson factory used to center the rotor in the stator. The rotor needs to be centered in the magnetic field of the stator and that is what was used. When you put it back together use feeler gauges and reinsert it where it is needed.